Mustache on the Move: Am I really the Most Badass Person in my Whole Town?

So the other Sunday I went out for some errands on the bike as usual. I had to hit the Big Box stores at the Eastern edge of town – Staples for an office necessity and Lowe’s for a specialized light bulb.

It was a beautiful day. Sunny with dappled clouds. Temperatures in the mid 70s. Very light winds. Fresh tree and flower smells in the air.

The bigbox store development I usually visit is right along the bike path that runs through the center of town – that’s why I use these particular stores. The path runs along a winding crystal clear glacier-fed stream which comes out of the mountains. It babbles and plays over a base of smooth round river rocks and sand, with the occasional little waterfall or stretch of rapids. As you whiz under the canopy of leaves formed by the tall creekside trees, if you’re going West, you can look up at any point and see the Rocky Mountains towering above you. Their tops are still covered with deep snow and ice, which is melting in the hot sun to provide you with all of this nice water.

So it’s a pretty darned nice path to bike along, and by riding on this path and the rest of the network of connected paths, you can get to most of the useful parts of my town, barely even needing to resort to the wide, quiet, bike-lane-equipped streets.

And yet when I got to the big box stores, I found the parking lot stocked with about 100 mostly-expensive cars.. but not a single bike in the virgin gloss-black bike rack system in the premium storefront bike parking area.

I racked my mind to figure out why this could be.

“Is it a workday? Maybe these people are all commuters from other towns, just stepping out for lunch? Nope.. it’s Sunday.

Is it the weather? Nope, fucking gorgeous out here today.

The hard-to-reach location? Nope, there’s the bike path right there. Maybe people in my town can’t afford bikes? Nope, these are all expensive cars, and in fact even cheap cars cost more than bikes.

Is this a special store only for people with special mobility needs? Nope, the people appear to be walking between the cars and the stores (and even that is surely only because the stores don’t yet allow you to drive right in and select items from the comfort of your driver’s seat).

After considering all the alternatives, the only rational explanation I could come up with, for the fact that I biked to the store while everyone else drove, even in the most perfect imaginable bicycling conditions, is this: Mr. Money Mustache must be the Single Most Badass person in Longmont, Colorado.

I know, I know.. it sounded surprising to me as well, but what other explanation can you offer? And more significantly, do you have what it takes to be the Baddest in YOUR town?

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I am always amazed how most folks I have met or became friends with were never willing to bike or walk anywhere, not even to the next door neighbors 50 feet away or a store not even a block away! THEY DRIVE and it totally drives me nuts! I have a hard time understanding how lazy so many americans have become and that walking to them may as well be some major epedemic such as leperousy or Black Death. So many stop me and hubby on our many mile hikes we do for enjoyment as in their minds if we are walking something MUST be wrong, ironically many of these types would also not know an honest hard day of physical work if their life depended on it

Well, mostly my town doesn’t have what it takes. In fact, I would assert that most places in the US don’t have safe (much less scenic) bike trails running through town. In my case, I don’t live all that far from several stores, including a Lowe’s, grocery/pharmacy, etc. but to get there on a bike would seriously risk life and limb. I would have to cross a very busy 5-way intersection that consists of a total of 12 traffic lanes plus turning lanes. No one in their right mind would want to negotiate that. Furthermore, if any of the town fathers ever suddenly became enlightened, I can’t imagine how they’d create bike lanes in that mess. And there are no reasonable detours around it.

It’s just one more example of how far this country really has to go to really approach anything like a sustainable lifestyle. But heck, we just released a whopping (?) 30 million barrels of oil from the strategic reserve. A whole day-and-a-half’s worth for the US. (We guzzle 20 million barrels a day in this country.)

They reason they have to drive their car is because it is really difficult to balance a 57″ plasma screen HD TV on the back of a bicycle, or the inconvenience of breaking a sweat while biking with a box of donuts and a 16 oz Starbucks coffee.

It is nice to read all of your thoughts about why various people do or do not bike. I was joking about my own toughness, of course, because there are many other bikers in Longmont (which is why we have these great trails nowadays). There was even a local night time bike rally/concert last week that gathered over 1000 bicycle riders.

It is just that the percentage is still ridiculously small. In a perfect situation like the day described in this article (or indeed most of the other 299 sunny days annually in my area), I would expect a much higher bicycle participation rate – perhaps 50-90%, instead of less than 1% as I witnessed.

@Kathy P – not everywhere is created equal, but I still caution against writing off bicycling so easily. Smart people bike in EVERY city, and they find workarounds to the really bad traffic areas. My apartment-to-university commute was a textbook bicycle-unfriendly one, but I found a way to do it safely. The attitude must always be “there IS a way, I just have to find it.”

If biking is your priority for local errands, which it absolutely should be for all able-bodied people, you will find an ENJOYABLE way to get to everything you need to do in your city. The secret parking lot that lets you avoid a certain intersection, the quiet road that goes behind a grocery store. Bikes are quite magical in the city – they can go a million places cars cannot go, which gives you shortcuts and quieter routes than the cars are forced to take. I can do most bike errands in my 25-square-mile city faster than they could be done by car, since a car’s average speed in city traffic is actually well below 20MPH.

One of the benefits of suburban sprawl is that it often creates ideal conditions for biking – low population density and plenty of low-theft places to put your bike in front of stores. And the distances created by suburban sprawl, 0-3 miles between average homes and retail clusters, while impractical for an impatient walker, are actually very nice cycling distances.

This is true. I can get to work on a bike path – probably the first 2-3 miles and the last 1/4 mile on streets, and the rest on a bike path. That adds a mile to my 10 mile trip, so I am usually lazy and take surface streets. At 7 am, it’s still safe enough.

When it is dark for me or my spouse, we have a flashing light and a reflective vest, and we are MUCH more likely to take the quieter bike path. It’s slower, and darker than the streets with traffic lights, but you are also less likely to get run over.

One reason people do not bike is they have children and do not have an adequate bike trailer. We bought a double bike trailer off Craigslist when our 1st child was 7 months old. It was a priority so that we would not have to buy a 2nd vehicle to commute 3 miles at separate times. In our small town of 1300 people-which is 1mi by 1mi-cars rule and I have yet to see another bike trailer.

I would recommend a bike trailer be added to every baby shower list and all other items be eliminated.

I would only recommend a bike trailer if it’s a bike friendly town. When my husband was researching trailers and kiddie seats, he found that it is recommended for safety reasons that “your child should not ride on a bike on a street until he/she is able to propel it themselves”.

I do see a fair number of bike trailers in my town, because we have a number of dedicated bike paths not connected to roads. We never purchased one, so our son has not been on a bike yet.

We do, however, live about a 1-mile walk from a farmstand, a couple of grocery stores, restaurants, and a great park. He has complained about the 1 mile walk to his friends’ birthday parties at the park (and our friends thought we were crazy for pushing him in the stroller, but then were even more shocked to learn we don’t have a stroller. Yes, our 5 year old can walk one 1 mile to a park. And back home again.)

Except I accidentally started reading through the comments at the end of that one and got pissed off again. Those anti-bike comments that appear after every mainstream article about bikes sure are annoying.

“There is a toxic level of Smugness in this article”

YES, we are smug about biking while you drive, because we ARE doing something significantly better than you! If you want to be better like us, you can ride a bike too and we will welcome you to our ranks!

If not, and you still want to write anti-bike drivel, stop by the new Mr. Money Mustache franchise on Main Street for a complimentary PUNCH IN THE FACE!

There, I feel better, even though that guy will never get to read this.

Uh, you said it yourself. “Big Box Store”. People were probably buying too much stuff, or too BIG stuff to haul on a bike.

I know that I rarely shop by bike because I try not to shop often and I end up with a lot of stuff. And. I live on a big hill. I hate to bike back up it.

However, I try to bike to work 2x a month (that is not a typo, it used to be once a week, but my spouse travels two weeks a month now, so I can’t bike to work those weeks). And generally a few folks think I’m badass because it’s 10 miles. (But I only bike one way – I bike to work, spouse drives with his bike on the rack. I drive home, he bikes.) Our offices are a block from each other.

We’d carpool, but we offset our working hours to better match the school schedule,

I really wish you hadn’t divulged the L-town word. Making it sound too attractive too. I like keeping the secret. But… If you MUST entice people to immigrate here, I guess I prefer those with Mustachian principles!

I dunno, Tim. A city like Boulder or San Francisco can afford to be smug and not attract more people, because it is already overcrowded. But Longmont still has vacant commercial buildings left over from the 2002 tech bust, and too many people with raised mufflerless pickup trucks and noisy Harleys. It’s kind of two cities in one now – the growing progressive aspect, and the regular sprawl-as-usual contingent.

We need just a few more natural-living, peaceful people to fill out our ranks to fill up this place a little and continue to vote for more bike paths. And either scare the old motorhead crowd away with our crunchy granolaness or price them out of the housing market by bringing our prices up a bit.

My wife grew up in Longmont. I have to admit that while I am born and bred Minnesotan I am starting to long for the better year-round outdoor climate of the Denver area. Her parents & brother are in Monument, sister in Longmont (elementery teacher actually), and grandparents in Fredrick. Lots of child-watching help available as opposed to my parents who are older and have less availability, grandparents that cannot manage it, and brother/sister-in-law who we wouldn’t likely want to try to use for anything more than a movie. If we were about $20K lower on what we owe for the house I might start looking into a move…

Its a lot more challenging here in the Oakland / Berkeley area across from San Francisco.

But I think I may still be (at least among, if not THE) most bad-ass in town.

Everyone bikes around here; but I seem to be the only person – out of a population of half a million – who skate(d) to work.
10 miles.
Each way.

Usually while listening to music, and frequently singing and/or dancing along with said music. In traffic.
Thats just how I roll
(pun intended!)

Unfortunately, that job decided they wanted all full time workers, and I have no intention of ever working full time again, so now I am just on call for covering the occasional sick day or vacation for the full time staff.

Starting someplace is really important. So, when we get to Main Street, which is also a state highway, we go on the sidewalk. Completely illegal, and there’s no way to forget that as my little 3 year old girl calls out from the trailer each and every time,”Mama, bikes aren’t allowed on the sidewalks, you’re going against the rules.” So, this is not the most bike friendly town as while it is small, it only takes one car to hit us. But, we cannot give in to the cars and must take a few risks in life (coming from me, a wimpy, conservative person who generally judges risks/benefits in every category) to show the need for bike paths.

Since no one has said it yet, another reason no one is biking is climate control. I’d like to read a Mrs. MM post on biking as a women without the crutches of high upkeep hairstyles and fashion.

I always thought biking on sidewalks wasn’t allowed either, but I just read a page published by my state and it specifically stated bikes can use sidewalks. Not sure if individual cities can override that, but I might be more inclined to start bicycling knowing I can use the sidewalk since I’m not in an especially bike friendly area.

I use to use a small cavelier for hauling up to 3 pigs at a time ( we rented a farm in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan for awhile) goats, and filling it to the brim even for scrap metal runs…… I really would not recommend a bike for hauling pigs……………..a cavelier was far bad enough! LOL but in places where I lived people would drive a block away just for a gallon of milk and loaf of bread………really just plain lazy there , just as easily walked or biked to when it is only a block away!

10 foot boards is definitely badass. I’ll carry a long plastic pipe or the like (HD is only 2 miles from my house), but admit to resorting to the construction van when there is dimensional lumber involved.

How do you plan to use it? How much experience do you have? How far will you ride a day, how much stuff will you haul, on road or off, will you ride in bad weather, how much maintenance are you comfortable doing?

Shop by type, features, weight, and components, not by brand. I strongly recommend looking at used bikes first (a used bike shop if available) but if you do get one new, definitely go with a local bike shop (they’ll make up for a slightly higher price with advice and usually a few months of free repairs)

Hi Chris! Glad to hear you are into bikes as well. Those both sound like nice machines, although you don’t have to spend $700 these days to get a good one. My main bike for the last few years is a K2 Astral 3.0, which was only something like $300 during a clearance at nashbar.com in 2008. I’ve got about 3000 km of city errands on it so far and I love it. I also have a moderate level road bike and suspension mountain bike for the trails.

What, you live in Longmont? I know another badass person in your town, well I’ve never actually met her (I live in bike heaven – The Netherlands) but I’ve read her blog for ages: http://www.walkslowlylivewildly.com.

Some of my neighbors drive to our clubhouse/pool in our subdivision. It is literally 4 houses down the street from us and our street is a circle. I am at the top of the circle, clubhouse at the bottom, so I am one of the farthest away. I cringe whenever I see someone drive down there.

Your town sounds awesome, I wish we had bike paths (or even bike-able streets) like that. Part of it is our fault – we picked a house in a subdivision, but the town is basically built for cars only. Even to get to the grocery store I’d have to either ride on the sidewalk or on a narrow, busy 2 lane 35mph road. I may try it anyway!

When I lived in the suburb, I was a drive your car everwhere type as well. Maybe it’s the way our society is and seeing no one on sidewalk makes us feel uncomfortable about walking or the fact that everything’s so far away in the suburbs.… who knows. Then I moved to the city. Now, I walk to the market, walk to get a haircut, walk to get lunch, etc. I love it. First it was a block, then 3, then 5, and it’s not as bad as I thought.

I told my wife and she refused to walk more than a block. Now, she loves it too. I think it’s the initial hestitation b/c we’re so brainwashed into thinking we have to drive. After couple times of walking/biking, you find more enjoyment than driving.

I can attest to MMM’s claims, I still live in said small town. I’ve got to start livin’ more Moustachian, especially since my wife was just laid off, and we have another baby on the way! I’ve been sucked in by the siren call of consumerism for too long. I’ve grown fat and weak-minded… must get stronger with the use of moustachian principles!

Oh Hello there, Mr. Travoid. Glad to see a comment from you here!
I am excited to see some Mustachian changes happening up there in the hometown as well. You are an absolutely prime candidate for dramatic change and the happiness that comes with it. It will seem difficult at first until you gain strength. But strength will come and will triumph over the excusitis, you will be amazed.

Your first assignment, start walking to work. After one month of success, report back ;-)

If you want to double down for a mega-boost, also sell your Fancy Motorcycle immediately, before it is too late in the summer to do so. You can always replace it later, with a less costly bike, once your kids are old enough to ride with you and once your mortgage is paid off. This is what I told myself when I sold my own motorbike 3 years ago. When I did the math, (insurance, cost of capital, depreciation), it was costing me about $75 every time I rode that thing. For you, the number is probably much higher because of Ontario’s expensive insurance and your fancier bike.

So as I rolled into Longmont heading to my sister in laws place last week I found myself worried that MMM would see me and feel sorry for me driving my 2009 T&C Limited with the trim turned gold. I actually wished I could hang a sign on it explaining that it was bought used, and just a couple days after they “golded” it (we liked it better before they did that). It was an executive lease-back, so the 4K miles it had on it that resulted in over $15K in savings were likely no worse than what any normal driver would do. It is planned as a “lifetime” car which will see our kids as far into their school career as possible (they are 1year and 2.5 years). Oh, and it is paid for.

Then I thought it unlikely that MMM would see us anyhow since she lives on the SE corner of town, and we would be travelling from there to Fredrick and back. Except we also went to the bridge for great grandpa’s 100th. And visited sister in laws school on the west central side of town. And saw two people who were looked to definatelybe bikers instead of drivers in our travels through town.

So MMM, if you saw a dirty late-model expensive mini van with MN plates and bikes hanging off the back, please recall the usual “in debt to their ears” judgement that even I struggle not to pass on similar people. We are in a state of positive net worth based on our balance sheet, our income is more than expenditure every month, and we are getting better every day.

West Side Central baby, you were right in my ‘hood. You mighta seen me – big black bike, subwoofers in the wheels rattling everyone’s windows, Money Mustache hangin’ off to the sides so wide that it sweeps the leaves out of both gutters simultaneously.

I’m like a Big Cloud ‘a’ Dust and Bass / coming straight at yo’ face/ making all the Consumas Run and Hide / behind their X5s and S8s!

Damn right I be watchin out for Fancy Car Posers / Passin’ Judgement on each one of ‘em

Sukkas scared to go out in their cars now / Lest Triple M be makin fun of them!!

I used to be the baddest mofo in Longmont, but then I moved to Boulder, where I became one of many badassers. I guess you’re it now!
Seriously, though, it always surprised me how few people utilize the gorgeous trails that Longmont has to offer.

When in the pursuit of baddness, it can be fun to try to challenge friends and family to pursue the same. My brother and his wife were visiting us this evening, and around 9:50pm the ladies both remembered some grocery need for tomorrow’s dinner, and the store was closing in 10 minutes (and would be closed tomorrow). So my brother and I decided to go make the purchase right away.

We went out the side door, and he turned right–towards his car. I turned left–toward my garage, where I keep the bike (but not the car). He was surprised, but followed me to the garage. I invited him to ride my wife’s bike, and we both raced to the store, made the purchase before closing, and made it home without cracking the eggs.

.. and you had more fun doing it than driving, and a story to remember probably for the rest of your life when you think of your BIL. (until you ride with him every day for everything, then it becomes no big deal :)

I was surprised to see a lack of any contrary points of view.. because of that, I’ll offer my own:
In response to, “After considering all the alternatives, the only rational explanation I could come up with, for the fact that I biked to the store while everyone else drove, even in the most perfect imaginable bicycling conditions, is this: Mr. Money Mustache must be the Single Most Badass person in Longmont, Colorado.”
I would like to point out that the most badass residents were probably at home using the light of the sun to work by, while they were sawing down trees for their future lumber needs (or replanting the ones from last month); reusing paperclips instead of staples, using digital copies instead of printing, using skydrives instead of additional hard drive space, etc.
Those people are probably laughing at the fact that you rode your bike to the store, the same way you might laugh at someone who says they saved money by going to multiple stores in the same trip instead of driving home between each stop.

I have a question – I am pretty short. Like just over 5′. So, I’m thinking my chances of finding a used adult bike for someone my height might be difficult. 19″ or 20″ kids bikes, however, are up for grabs for $20ish all over the place and at my height would probably be perfectly usable.

Is it important to get an road bike, or do you think I could get away with any old thing I could get my hands on? Even though I am female, If I went with a kid’s I would probably try to get a boy’s bike – I don’t think I could get away with pink and white with streamers in the bike rack at work! :-)

Thanks, Bakari! Reading through all the posts, “the fixer” had one that caught my eye about bike rental services that occasionally sell off their older bikes. Sounds like a great place to look for a quality used bike!

I *am* about an hour’s drive from DC, so it may be worth contacting him or the service he mentioned.

I found your blog about two years ago when I was researching ways to cut back on expenses. At the time I lived about 12 miles from work, a bit far to ride a bike but we did have a bus so I started using a combination of bus/bike to commute to work. One of my benefits at work was a free bus pass so my commutting expense was almost zero. I bought a bike trailer and started doing all of my errands and shopping my bike. I moved my work location closer to home and have ride my bike to work everyday. My wife and I had two small cars and I only occasionally drove mine so we just decided to sell it and have one car. Just wanted to thank you for the inspiration. Thanks! Edward

I’ve been a biker since 14, delayed getting my license til 21, routinely biked more than drove even after I added a motorcycle to my bicycle, and even biked 27 miles each way from Cologne to Dusseldorf for work.

I will say this, one must have thick skin to eschew driving. It is seen as a negative, for whatever reason, often projection on the part of the mocker, but it can be tough to go from non biker to biker. I still say do it, but be prepared for some hard times from friends and strangers alike.

things I feel badass about:
Using my debit card not my credit card to pay for things.
Taking my crazy boxer dog out. Free entertainment but not really. He costs me about $60 a month but he is also our home security.
Going to the cafe and getting free refills on tea and not ordering food. Feels like I went to the gym. This is a triumph because I used to order food each time.
Coming in below budget maybe with 20 to spare. I love keeping a 20 in my wallet when its extra.
Putting my freelance company on my resume with a link to my portfolio, because I did it myself.
Not having a car payment.

My grandmother lives in a small town in Illinois, one with a charming town square with a gazebo surrounded by quaint shops and cafes. It’s about a half-mile walk along tree-lined sidewalks. Every time we visit her and walk to the square, people stop their cars to lean out and ask if we’re lost or if we need a ride. If you aren’t walking a dog being on the sidewalks is suspicious.

I love biking everywhere, though the high desert in rural, oil-producing Utah is a tough place to do it. For the record, I live only .75 miles from work (by choice) but I bike there year round, in -16 F to 100 F, even while pregnant. I biked in labor, though I wouldn’t recommend it.

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